


Things Not Understood

by sixbeforelunch



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, F/M, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-03-26
Updated: 2007-03-26
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixbeforelunch/pseuds/sixbeforelunch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We're the Widows of Cheyenne Mountain." AU. Spoilers for early season 9. Allusions to Babylon, but nothing specific.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things Not Understood

**Author's Note:**

> Written for dragonsinger's AU Prompt-A-Thon. Prompt #39--"Cameron came to the SGC with a civilian wife. Life with her not knowing." Thanks to rotster for assuring me it didn't totally suck, and seimaisin for suggesting ways to flesh out my OC. Dedicated to angelsgracie.

First they said, "We don't expect him to survive the night."

Then they said, "We don't expect him to ever wake up."

Next they said, "He'll probably never walk again."

When Cameron took his first tentative steps, Krista Mitchell stopped listening to doctors.

*

Krista met Cameron when he was stationed in Germany. She told him she was doing study abroad. A few days later she confessed that she was actually wandering aimlessly through Europe on her father's dime after failing out of school.

Her mother said the same thing as her friends. "It will never last. You're too much of a free spirit to be married to a military man."

Her mother said free spirit. Krista was starting to think free loader. Cameron made her want to do better in a way no one else had. He anchored her.

It lasted.

*

Krista went back and finished school with a double major in journalism and music. She wrote freelance, and kept a well-read country music blog. It meant she could work from anywhere, including the hard plastic chair next to Cameron's bed. She stayed there as much as they let her.

When Cameron woke up, she was reviewing the latest Toby Keith album. When Cameron got better, he took her to the first Toby Keith concert he could get tickets to, front row. Neither one of them liked his music, but that wasn't really the point.

*

Cameron got stronger by degrees. The doctors stopped making predictions about how far he'd go. In the end, he regained 95% mobility, but no one could ignore the fact that his reflexes weren't what they had been. Krista never told him that she was just a little bit relieved when it became clear that he wouldn't be flying experimental aircraft anymore.

*

"Colorado Springs?" Krista asked.

"I hear it's nice there," Cameron said.

"What's in Cheyenne Mountain?"

"Deep Space Radar telemetry."

Krista gaped at him.

"I know, I know. It sounds really boring, but it's actually really cool." There was plenty he wasn't telling her, she knew. Cameron Mitchell would never take a position in a research facility. But Krista also knew the concept of classified better than she would have liked. She didn't even bother to ask.

Krista nodded. "Colorado Springs. Okay."

It sounded good, actually. How much trouble could Cameron get into inside of a mountain?

*

Krista liked Colorado Springs. It was quiet and peaceful. She made friends quickly, mostly with the spouses of people who worked at Cheyenne Mountain.

"We're the Widows of Cheyenne Mountain," Stacy said at lunch.

"I don't understand," Krista said.

"You will."

*

"Lockdown?" Krista said. She had enough experience as a military wife not to bore the sergeant on the other end of the phone with sob stories about anniversaries. "Do you have any idea how long?"

"No ma'am," the sergeant said.

"Is there any way I can talk to Colonel Mitchell?"

"Not at the moment. I can leave a message for him to call you when he becomes available."

Krista bit back a sigh. "Thank you." For nothing.

She called Stacy next.

"Why don't you come over?" Stacy said. "I have wine and an excellent DVD collection."

Cameron came home six days later with a huge bunch of flowers. "I am so sorry."

"Not your fault," Krista said. It wasn't. That didn't stop her from being just a little bit angry.

*

Cameron came home with bruises more often than not.

"What I don't understand," Krista said over mixed drinks, "is how he gets hurt in there? It's a research facility."

Stacy just shook her head. "I used to ask Brian about it. I haven't bothered for a while."

"How do you deal with it?" Krista asked.

"Not very well," Stacy said.

"I'm no fool," Krista said. "I knew what I was getting into when I married an Air Force officer. But this whole thing is so strange. Rita thinks it's aliens. When they go into that mountain, they actually get...beamed up by little green men and go gallivanting around the galaxy."

"Sounds as plausible as anything else I've heard," Stacy said.

It took Krista a minute to realize that she wasn't joking.

*

Rita's husband died three weeks later. "Training accident," Cameron said. "He was a good man."

Training accidents were shockingly common at Cheyenne Mountain. Krista mentioned it to the other Widows once, early on, and was met with silence. It was one of those things you didn't talk about.

*

"Sam," Krista said when she opened the door. She had only met Samantha Carter a few times before, but the woman had always gone out of her way to be friendly.

Sam smiled tightly. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Krista felt the bottom go out of her stomach. "Cameron?"

"He's missing. We haven't given up yet, but we aren't sure when we'll get him back."

Krista's mind provided what Sam hadn't said. _If we'll get him back. Or what condition he'll be in if we do._

*

Cameron came home a few weeks later, injured, but not nearly as badly as Krista's over-active mind had been expecting. In the pale light of their bedroom, she examined the wound on his side, trying to figure out what kind of weapon could have made it. She couldn't.

"Cam?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it worth it?"

Cameron grinned at her, the same grin that had made her fall in love with him all those years ago. "Oh yeah."

Krista sighed. She supposed she'd have to be content with that.

end


End file.
